Hold Them Close and Lay Them Down
by WeBuiltThePyramids
Summary: It really was a beautiful day.


**So Valentine's Day is a Tuesday this year, and there are never school dances on Tuesdays, so that makes me think that the episode took place a few days before Valentine's Day. So here's my lil thing about what could happen on the actual day.**

 **I actually started drafting this idea in November or December, and just kept tweaking it as the show progressed. (I hope that isn't tooooo obvious, haha.)**

* * *

"Morning," Paige said, announcing herself as she entered the garage, already taking her jacket off as she made her way toward her desk.

"No Ralph?" Walter said in surprise.

Paige stopped and cocked her head. "Walter, it's Tuesday. He's in school." She scanned the garage. "Where are Happy and Toby?"

It was Sylvester's turn to cock his head. "Paige, it's Valentine's Day. They're heading to San Francisco."

"I know it's Valentine's Day," Paige said, "I just wasn't sure she'd be in the mood to go, what with her father..."

"I don't think she was," Sylvester said, "but she knows that sometimes the best way to take a break from what's on your mind is a change of scenery, no matter how brief."

"Thankfully we don't have any cases today," Walter said. "Cabe's in meetings all day. So we're short, but it doesn't matter all that much."

"Well, I always have paperwork to do," Paige said. "And this last one, it was certainly complicated." She looked at Sylvester and Walter. "What are you guys working on?"

"I'm helping him with his platform for personal security for the upcoming debate," Walter said. "As I am the superior genius when it comes to computers and other personal electronic devices."

"He's still sore that I beat him in chess," Sylvester said. "But I'm letting him have this one because he is actually superior in these topics."

Walter smiled.

"Which you know, could give the argument that I'm smarter over all, you know," Sylvester said. "Because I'm capable of recognizing my weaknesses and bringing other people in to help me become stronger overall. That's important, you know."

"You just said 'you know' three times," Walter said.

"Okay," Paige said, "how about you guys go back to the place you were at right after our case and I'll get out the measuring stick later."

Walter and Sylvester glanced at each other sheepishly.

Clearing his throat, Walter picked up his chalk. "So as I was saying, one really critical aspect of..."

* * *

"Well, I'm going to take a break for lunch," Paige said, standing up and stretching. "I'm just going to call, does anyone want anything?"

"I'm good," Sylvester said. "I brought some of the leftovers I had last night."

"Okay. Walter?"

"I was going to walk down to the park and pick something up," Walter said. "It's a nice day, and I could use the Vitamin D."

"Fresh air does sound good," Paige said.

"Do you want to come along?"

"Yeah," Paige said, nodding and smiling. "Sure. Sounds great. Just let me run to the bathroom."

Sylvester sidled up to Walter as Paige vanished from view. "I see what you did there."

"Hmmm?" Walter looked at him, furrowing his brow. "What?"

"Walter." Sylvester folded his arms. "You're going out with Paige. On Valentine's Day."

"No I'm not," Walter said. "We're just walking to the park and getting lunch."

"The park is over a mile away. The park is gorgeous, it's a gorgeous day..." Sylvester shook his head, a small grin on his face. "You guys are going on a date!"

"Sly. She's in a relationship."

"With a man who is seven thousand five hundred miles away. It may be my name, but you're being pretty sly, Walter."

"It's not a date," Walter insisted.

Sylvester crossed his arms. "Then why are you suddenly talking strolls in the park and inviting her along."

"V – vitamin D."

"Okay." Sylvester didn't sound convinced. Walter grunted.

"Alrighty," Paige said, returning with a smile. "Let's go. Sly, are you sure you don't want to come along?"

"Ha!"

Walter and Paige both looked at him curiously. He cleared his throat. "I mean no, I have some food right here. You kids have a great time."

"We are both years older than you," Walter retorted.

"Walter," Paige said, "I'm getting hungry and it's going to take us a bit to walk down there."

"Right, right," Walter said, going to his desk and grabbing his wallet, shoving it in his pocket. "Let's go."

He held the door for her as they exited the garage. Sylvester raised his eyebrows.

* * *

The walk to the park was refreshing, and Walter wasn't thinking about the nice day. Only a bit over a week ago, he and Paige would never be doing this. She'd been doing her best to avoid him, even eliminating the casual conversation that used to fill so much of their time. He'd felt alone, abandoned, and he'd been angry with her. But above all, he'd missed her.

And now they were sitting on a picnic table in the park, both digging into their chicken fingers, keeping up the chatter that had been nonstop from the moment they'd left the garage.

"Doesn't this piece kinda look like an oxygen mask?" He asked, picking up one of the last pieces in his basket.

Paige's brow furrowed, but she was smiling. "What?"

"Like this." Walter held it up to his face. "Oxygen mask."

Paige gave a little laugh. "Okay, I wouldn't have picked up on that, but yeah, yeah I can see it." Walter grinned and bit the piece in half. "Oh no," Paige said, "now we're all gonna die."

"Don't joke about that," Walter said. "It's the one day that maybe we aren't."

"And it is a really _beautiful_ day," Paige said, resting her hands on her thighs and leaning back slightly to look around. "I mean, it's the middle of _February_ and it could be June. I could almost use some ice cream."

"There's an ice cream truck just fifty yards or so down that way," Walter said, gesturing with his chin behind her. "You want? My treat."

" _Re_ ally?" Paige said, her face lighting up. "Well in that case, I definitely want."

Walter wasn't sure if she intended her tone to be flirty or not. She _was_ in a relationship but he'd definitely heard that tone before...

"I'll get them," Walter said, standing up. "You sit."

"Kay." She made a two syllable word one, resting her chin on her folded hands. Walter wondered what that meant.

"Hi," he said to the vendor. "Can I just get two chocolate cones, please? Malik," he added when he saw the name tag.

"Chocolate, huh?" Malik said, nodding as he opened up the freezer. "Just like me."

Walter frowned. "What?"

"Chocolate." Malik gestured to himself. "I'm black."

"Yes, but..."

"It's a joke, dude," he said, cutting Walter off although he seemed more amused than annoyed. "You said you wanted smalls, right?"

"Yes."

"Four dollars." He took Walter's credit card, ran it, then handed over a receipt for him to sign. "Thank you, sir."

"Busy today?" Walter asked, remembering that it was important to make small talk with people he had just met as well as with colleagues.

His voice was slightly muffled as he leaned down to scoop. "Well, it is a holiday."

Walter grunted. "A very commercialized one."

"Hey now," Malik said, standing up straight. "I saw that lovely lady you're with. Don't tell me you aren't thrilled to death about the two of you being out together on Valentine's Day. It's a _beautiful_ day."

"It's just..." Walter shook his head, deciding not to elaborate.

"You know," Malik said as he began to scoop the ice cream, "I used to be _real_ jaded about Valentine's Day. I hated it. I thought it was ridiculous that people put so much focus on one day. Why can't you just love the person every day? Cherish them every day? Show them how you feel, without a holiday to inspire you?"

A motion out of the corner of Walter's eye made him turn his head slightly. Paige was tugging her hair out of its ponytail. With her back to him, Walter had a full view as she ran her hands through her freed hair and gently shook her head side to side, letting it fall around her shoulders. "Uh huh," he said in response to Malik.

"Then I met my wife. Dinah. It's spelled like that working on the railroad song, but pronounced _Dee-nah._ Anyway, Dinah loves Valentine's Day. I didn't understand it. I thought it was fake, almost, to show extra affection on that day. But then she told me, 'You know', she said, 'it's just like Thanksgiving. You're thankful for your family every day, but Thanksgiving is the day that you all get together and celebrate it.' And I thought to myself..."

"Thanksgiving was named a national holiday by Abraham Lincoln in order to make it easier for the white people to celebrate their massacres of the Native Americans," Walter said. "It was easier to have a specific day in mind rather than holding a celebratory feast after every one. It's a terrible holiday and everyone is led to believe it is about nothing but that feast from 1621."

"Okay, then let's go with birthdays," Malik said, "because that was the next example Dinah gave me. People don't just care that you were born on your birthday. But birthdays still carry emotional weight. And Dinah said to me," he stopped talking for a moment, handing Walter the first cone. He was still watching Paige, even though she wasn't doing much of anything. Her shoulders were hunched, so she was probably looking down at her phone.

"And I realized," Malik continued, "Dinah was right. Because on Valentine's Day, everyone is extra aware. Your partner is wanting to be treated extra special, and then when you are, when you're holding them close, laying them down and kissing them everywhere, just saying and showing how they're everything to you," he shook his head. "That's everything. Right there. That's the dream, you know?"

Walter watched as a slight breeze caught a few strands of Paige's hair, brushing it to the side, and he gave a little nod. "That's the dream," he said quietly.

"And you gotta be that way every day of the year, you know? But it seems to have an extra magic on Valentine's Day. Because they're thinking about it more. It's not the only day you love them but it's the day the world celebrates. Sir. _Sir_."

Walter jumped. Malik was handing him the other cone. "What do you I owe you?"

"You already paid, sir."

"Oh. Right." Walter gave an embarrassed smile. "Well, uh, have a nice day, Malik."

"Oh my name's not Malik," he said with that same big smile.

Walter cocked his head. "Your name tag says..."

"Yeah, funny story, so I..."

"Ice creams are melting," Walter said, holding them both up before turning around and walking back to the picnic table.

Paige couldn't have timed looking over her shoulder any better if it was on purpose. "Ah, awesome," she said with a smile as he approached, reaching out to take a cone. "It's warm out, for February. This breeze is nice."

Walter agreed. Her hair did wonderful things in a slight breeze.

"Thank you, Walter," Paige said, taking a lick of the treat. "Chocolate. Perfect for today."

Walter started. What did _that_ mean? He'd only chosen chocolate because he knew it was her favorite. If Toby was here he'd chide him for getting her chocolate on Valentine's Day while she was dating someone else. But Paige didn't seem angry... "Well," he said, playing it safe, "it is your favorite."

"Yes it is," she said.

They ate in relative silence – it was difficult to talk while making sure no ice cream dripped from the cone to their hands. Walter wondered what Happy and Toby were up to, right about now. They were probably arriving at their hotel. Toby would likely suggest they christen it. And Cabe and Allie...Walter had hacked the restaurant's system and made them their reservations himself – it hadn't been terribly complicated given that they had to do lunch. But he knew exactly how upscale the place was, yet it had a quaint ambiance to it. It was exactly the kind of place that Paige would probably love.

Malik's words echoed around as if Walter's head was an empty chamber. He'd been fooling himself thinking that this was just a nice day that he and Paige would spend together, that he wouldn't end up consumed by his feelings for her. Walter mentally kicked himself. He _loved_ her, of course this wasn't what he really wanted. He wanted to bring all that magic to her that Malik talked about, to do all those cliché things that couples did on this day. The nice dinner, the hotel room with rose petals...

"Walter?"

He cleared his throat. "Hmmm?"

She was smiling as she cocked her head. "What are you thinking about?"

"Dreams," he blurted, throwing in a shrug to make his answer seem non – chalant.

Paige's eyes widened, and he swore she got a shade paler as she slowly sat up straight. He frowned. "What?"

She shook her head, easing back into her previous posture. "Nothing."

"Alright." Walter glanced around, seeking a garbage receptacle for the remnants of their lunch. There was one a few feet away. "I'm glad to have the company. This would have been quite a bit of time alone."

"Yeah, but you like being alone."

"I do," Walter said. "But I like spending time with you more."

He immediately wondered if he'd overstepped – but Paige smiled. "'Yeah?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "You know that it's hard for me to connect with people and it's even rarer to find people that I enjoy being with more than I enjoy being by myself, but..." he nodded, looking down at the table. "But you're one of those people."

One of his hands was resting on the table, and he looked up when she slid one of her hands over it. "I really enjoy spending time with you, too," she said with a smile. "I'm really glad that we worked things out."

He nodded. "Me too."

* * *

When they returned to the garage Sylvester had given them a look so suspicious that Walter was glad that looks couldn't kill because they'd be hard pressed to replace the mathematician.

The rest of the day passed fairly quickly, and Walter was wondering why until Paige looked at her phone and said it was time for her to go and get Ralph from his college class. He didn't want her to leave. He hated it every time she did.

"Hey Walter," Paige said, walking up to him. "I wasn't thinking it was going to be a good day today. Tuesday, slow, you know. But it was." She smiled. "I had a lot of fun at lunch."

He smiled back – hers was contagious. "I did too," he said, giving a little nod. "It was really nice."

They stared at each other, both smiling, both nodding ever so slightly. Then Paige moved forward, stepping closer to him, and, picking up her cues, Walter slid his arms around her, hyper aware of the feel of her against him and of her hands pressing into his back. He wasn't great at timing – he was actually pretty terrible at it a lot of the time – but now was the perfect time for him to say _I love you_ , if only it was appropriate. If only they were together.

It was a long hug – Walter figured it to be at least five Mississippis – but it felt like nothing when she finally pulled back. "Have a good night, Walter."

He smiled. "You too."

Sylvester walked up to Walter again as Paige exited the garage, but this time, there was none of the teasing that had been present earlier. He rested his hand on the older man's shoulder as Walter sighed. "Damn."

* * *

 **I purposefully made sure that Paige herself never mentioned Tim in this fic, because I quite enjoyed that neither she nor anyone actually mentioned him in the episode. (Could that be a clue that they aren't together anymore? We can only hope.) Hope you guys liked this, I feel like it's at least within the realm of possibility where things are in the show right now.**


End file.
